Santa Casa de BH will have to indemnify a former employee – 04/13/2023 – Market

The Santa Casa de Misericórdia de Belo Horizonte was ordered to indemnify a former employee who pierced her finger with a scalpel while embalming a corpse in 2016. In the decision published this Wednesday (12), the Labor Court determined the value of BRL 7,500 for pain and suffering.

Santa Casa filed an appeal, which is yet to be judged, and said that it complies with all rules relating to Health, Medicine and Safety at Work.

“The fact does not reflect the reality of a century-old institution, which values ​​the provision of quality health services, and an isolated episode cannot be taken as a reference to discredit or be taken as a recurring situation”, he said, in a note.

Leidiane Jaques da Silva Nascimento was hired by the hospital, starting in 2016, as an embalmer – responsible for the procedure performed on the corpse to keep it preserved for longer. The episode took place on October 19 of that year, during the preparation of a body.

To the court, the former employee said that, after the incident, she used antiviral medication that “would have caused her psychological distress”.

The reports indicated that she suffered a puncture wound, when she punctures and bruises at the same time, on the first finger of her left hand caused by a scalpel contaminated with biological material.

According to information contained in the process, Leidiane performed the procedure of inserting 12 liters of fluid into corpses to drain the blood and, if necessary, opened the abdomen, chest and skulls. Expert reports showed that she handled, on average, eight corpses per day.

The 15th Labor Court of Belo Horizonte, which judged the case in the first instance, condemned the hospital to pay the unhealthy additional, at the maximum level, at 40% of the minimum wage, since “the professional worked habitually exposed to biological agents during the preparation of cadavers”.

The hospital appealed the decision claiming that the accident was the responsibility of the then employee. However, the judge summoned from the 11th Panel of the TRT-MG, Leonardo Passos Ferreira, rapporteur of the appeal, considered that the occurrence of the typical work accident was duly proven in the records.

According to the magistrate, although the professional may be blamed for the accident, the employer’s failure to implement safety measures, violating public order rules, leaves no doubt as to responsibility.

“Although the provision of protective equipment and training has been proven, it is certain that they were not enough to prevent the occurrence of damage, which in itself demonstrates the employer’s guilt, embodied in the ineffectiveness of protecting those who exposed at risk,” he said.

The judge also pointed out that it is up to the hospital to prove that the accident at work was the sole fault of the victim or concurrent fault.

The process was forwarded to the Superior Labor Court to analyze the appeal requested by Santa Casa de Belo Horizonte.